Desktop Icons not working in Windows 10/8/7

Are you facing and issue, where you find that your desktop icons are not working or showing in Windows 10/8/7? Usually, this happens if the file associations are messed up. Before telling you how to fix it, I will in brief, talk about File Associations. If you have been working on computers for long, you can identify the applications needed to open certain files just by looking at their extensions.

Desktop icons not working

By default, file extensions are not shown in Windows Explorer. You have to go to Folder Options and uncheck Hide Extensions for Known File Types. The last two words of the option explain it all. File extensions are used to recognize file types. That is, if a file has.txt as its extension, you know it would open using Notepad, Word or even Microsoft WordPad/Write.

However, I recommend turning the visibility of extensions off, as many users might not be able to deal with them. There is always a possibility that you rename a file and overwrite the file extension – thereby, leaving it with no extension. In this case, Windows will present you with a dialog box when you double-click the file. The dialog box will ask you to select a program to open the file. The overwriting of file extensions is actually disassociating the file from regular applications and somewhat similar to the problem of desktop links not working in Windows 8 | 7.

Desktop Icons and File Associations

The desktop icons are shortcuts to respective applications. If you right-click any desktop icon and click on Properties, you will get a Properties dialog box with the Shortcut tab selected. If it is not, select the Shortcut tab to see the program it is associated with.

Most of the shortcuts, whether on the desktop or elsewhere, have the extension “.lnk”r. Do not confuse it with the capital case of alphabet “i”. It is – in fact – the lowercase of the alphabet “L”. That is supposed to mean ‘link’ without the ‘i’. This is where many get confused when setting up file associations as the characters look similar.

Fix .lnk File Association

Normally, most of us know which file types need what apps. If not, the option of searching the Internet is always there. Just open the Default Programs under All Programs in Start Menu and set up the file association. You can also use the Default Programs to make a file type open in a different application rather than having it open in what Microsoft decided is best for you.

In the case of desktop icons not working, however, you need to know what applications are required to open each type of icon. If you know, you can simply use the right-click ->Properties to set up the default program. Just browse Program Files – in the system drive – using Windows Explorer and copy the path of the application related to the desktop icon or shortcut. In the Properties dialog box, paste the path followed by the app’s executable name (see image below). To copy the path, click in the Windows Explorer Address bar, select all and then press CTRL+C.

Use File association Fixer

There are some third-party apps available in the market to fix file associations automatically. I recommend our File Association Fixer available on The Windows Club. Since is the Internet, you should trust only credible sources. That fixes our problem of desktop icons not working. That also tells us what to do if any icon is not opening the desired application.

8 Comments

Your insight and knowledge is very helpful. I had an issue where my Google shortcuts were slowing over time. Google, Gmail, Google Earth and Google translator were all gaining more issues as time went on. I tried many things to help my system but it was not helping (Cleaning files, diagnostics, scanning, etc.). When I opened my Gmail on my iPhone, it worked great and was super fast!
Somewhere I got the idea to delete my shortcut icons and perhaps reload them and start over. Problem solved! My Google programs all load immediately and every time. I don’t know why but I would like to know how only those shortcuts became corrupted.

you got something for when all the above does not apply, icons work one day then stopped the next for no reason. windows 7 loves to do this for open office. only a reinstall fixed it, then months to weeks later it happens again.

I am a 75 year old woman with no one to help me out. Is there anyone on here that can tell me why my windows icon in the toolbar is not working at all. I can’t even get the shut down choices to come up, not to mention I can’t play my Free Cell or Spider Solitaire!! The icon is there, but when I click on it, nothing happens. It was fine a few days ago, and we came back home to find the icon will not work. Thanks in advance.